Journalists trapped on flight to Cuba as Snowden follies continue

posted at 8:01 am on June 24, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Where in the world is Edward Snowden? That seems to be the question that enticed reporters to board a Moscow-to-Havana Aeroflot flight, after word leaked — sorry! — that Snowden had registered as a passenger, perhaps as part of a multi-flight itinerary to Ecuador or Venezuela. Reporters quickly bought tickets for the suddenly popular 12-hour Aeroflot route and dutifully took their seats … only to discover after the doors closed and the plane headed for the runway that Snowden wasn’t on board at all:

A plane took off from Moscow Monday headed for Cuba, but the seat booked by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden was empty, and there was no sign of him elsewhere on board.

An Aeroflot representative who wouldn’t give her name told The Associated Press that Snowden wasn’t on flight SU150 to Havana. AP reporters on the flight couldn’t him.

The Interfax news agency also quoted an unidentified Russian security source in Moscow as saying that Snowden wasn’t on the plane.

The airline said earlier Snowden registered for the flight using his U.S. passport, which American officials say has been annulled. …

After spending a night in Moscow’s airport, the former National Security Agency contractor — and admitted leaker of state secrets — had been expected to fly to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.

Twitchy’s been having a lot of fun with the story this morning, calling it “the best Rickroll ever.” According to the New York Times’ Jim Roberts, dozens of reporters are now en route to Fidel Castro’s paradise on the off chance that they might interview the former intelligence contractor. Instead, they fell into the trap of believing the cover story:

Judging from tweets by @MiriamElder & other reporters in #Moscow, dozens of journos are on Aeroflot flight to Cuba. But #Snowden isn't.

I could understand if a handful of reporters followed up on the potential lead. But dozens? Usually, those involved in intelligence don’t announce their travel intentions, especially those whose home country is pressuring everyone to extradite the fugitive. The Aeroflot ticket should have been taken with a large degree of skepticism, not with a large purchase on the expense account.

The US has already revoked Snowden’s passport, which means he’d have to have another to leave Russia anyway. So far, Russia isn’t offering to grant Snowden a passport, but they’re also not willing to arrest him. In fact, Russia claims that Snowden still hasn’t officially entered Russia at all. The Washington Post suggests, though, that Snowden might still be on the plane:

Despite a direct request from the United States to return Edward Snowden to U.S. soil to face charges of leaking government secrets, Russian officials said Monday that they had no legal authority to detain the fugitive former government contractor, who arrived in Moscow on Sunday and was seeking asylum in Ecuador, reportedly by way of Havana. …

“They’ve just locked the doors of the plane, #Snowden is NOT on this plane!!!” tweeted Egor Piskunov, a reporter with Russia’s government-financed RT. It was still possible, however, that Snowden was on board but out of sight of the journalists, or wearing a disguise.

Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s human rights ombudsman and a former ambassador to the United States, told the Interfax news agency that Russia had no authority to expel Snowden, as Washington was asking it to do. Russian officials said travelers who never leave a secure transit zone inside an airport —which means not crossing passport control–are not officially on Russian soil. Snowden did not have a Russia visa, several officials said, and therefore could not leave the transit zone.

Another complicating factor: the US and Russia don’t have an extradition treaty. We do, however, with Ecuador, Venezuela, and Cuba, although they all date back 80 years or more and probably won’t mean much to the current governments under the circumstances.

Besides, this is mainly a sideshow. The real story is in Washington DC and London, and in whether the US and UK governments can demonstrate that these programs don’t violate the rights of citizens and that the legislatures have effective oversight over their nations’ intelligence agencies. We don’t need red pins on maps with Snowden’s location to have that conversation.

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2. How do you know that probable cause in the near future won’t include conservative speech?

blink on June 24, 2013 at 11:36 AM

I know exactly as much as you know.

So, let’s turn that question on its head. How do you know it has been? Is there any evidence that Mr. Obama is using the NSA for internal politics? We see the evidence of IRS and EPA use all around us, but the NSA? Nope.

Let’s reduce your two questions to one question: How many conservatives are part of the NSA vice liberals?

I actually thought the phone thing, as I understood it, was pretty cool. Right now, I am just to unsure of what they have the capability to do and how they can use it. Until the IRS scandal, I truly was Pollyanna enough to think my government would never use information against me based on ideology. Yes, my cell phone has a camera, if NSA knows how to use it, they are way ahead of me. And I have the dreaded, unwanted and not activated OnStar in my car. So Snowden is neither hero nor traitor to me just yet.

And Mr. Snowden is a Paulbot. So we can see for ourselves that in the loose lips sink ships department, the far right equals the far left on the political spectrum — for look to whom Mr. Snowden fled in order to have protection to do his dirty deeds?

If 9/11 is a concern, than we should be more worried about the lack of enforcement of current immigration laws and the attempts to water them down since the vast majority of the hijackers were here on expired Visas. I am all for the airlines checking for bombs but I am not sure a plot like 9/11 could succeed today thank to the good people of Flight 93. I think most Americans think if they are going to die, they’re going to die fighting.

I actually thought the phone thing, as I understood it, was pretty cool. Right now, I am just to unsure of what they have the capability to do and how they can use it. Until the IRS scandal, I truly was Pollyanna enough to think my government would never use information against me based on ideology. Yes, my cell phone has a camera, if NSA knows how to use it, they are way ahead of me. And I have the dreaded, unwanted and not activated OnStar in my car. So Snowden is neither hero nor traitor to me just yet.

Cindy Munford on June 24, 2013 at 11:42 AM

I would guess that they have the ability to do your worst nightmare if they choose — to actually monitor and record your phone conversations, to operate your camera, to record your position as you travel around the city. My guess as to what they are doing? They are recording the metadata about your phone calls — whom you called and when you called them. Then, if they see a pattern, they can get a court order and go after the data — which is far more voluminous than the metadata. If they were recording every phone conversation, that would be so much data that they would be consuming petabytes of storage every day — it would be a major portion of their budget just to keep and maintain the data. So I expect that they are doing the metadata, which is far more modest in size, and doing the data only for warranted cases.

To put Mr. Snowden’s revelations into perspective, he told the Chinese which of their servers were being targeted for cyberwarfare, and how those servers were being targeted. Now, the big question is why Mr. Snowden thought taking that kind of data would be useful. To dangle the threat of damaging US espionage? If so, he’s already done it.

I’d put it quite bluntly. If I had the ability to fire a bullet at anyone in the world who was selling the USA down the river, he’d be target #1 at this point. Obama, as odious as I think him, wouldn’t even be on the list, for what he is doing is nothing more than partisan politics, a game with which we here in the USA are familiar. We are at war with both the Chinese and the Russians, and a guy who flees to them for aid is no friend of ours.

I never claimed that NSA was used for political purposes. YOU claimed that it’s never been used.

Regardless, the question isn’t if it’s ever been used. The question is if it will ever be used.

blink on June 24, 2013 at 11:50 AM

That’s like saying that a gun which has never been used to kill someone might be used to do so.

There’s always that possibility. But I don’t see it right now. There is no history of the NSA being used for internal political purposes. There is history of what the NSA tells the President being edited for political purposes, but never that the NSA itself has done political work.

By the word “politics” or “political work” I mean partisan politics — that which favors either the Democrats or the Republicans, as opposed to that which favors the Union. Of course the NSA monitors external political transaction…we would expect any intelligence agency worthy of the name to do so. And we also expect them to fight terrorism — if they deserve their budget, they better be doing so.

There is no history of the NSA being used for internal political purposes.

unclesmrgol on June 24, 2013 at 11:58 AM

You previously admitted that you didn’t know if this was true or not, so it’s strange that you are repeating a claim that you can’t back up.

And again, it doesn’t matter what’s been done in the past. What matters is what we need to prevent in the future. I don’t trust the government with the program and possible program expansions in the future.

By the word “politics” or “political work” I mean partisan politics — that which favors either the Democrats or the Republicans, as opposed to that which favors the Union.

This is a joke, right? Liberals are constantly claiming that conservatives are unfavorable to the Union. Did you watch the man-in-the-street interviews about IRS? Liberals were happy that conservative groups were being specifically targeted. They called their agenda corrupt and damaging.

Wake up and realize that liberals are feeling more and more justified in using the power of government to fight conservative ideals. Stop pretending that NSA isn’t a likely tool for them to use in the very near future.

We are at war with both the Chinese and the Russians, and a guy who flees to them for aid is no friend of ours.

unclesmrgol on June 24, 2013 at 11:53 AM

No we’re not. We are in competition but not war. We have a different form of government than they, as with many of the nations of the world, most other nations just aren’t as well armed. When China or Russia go on the march into other places for world domination, I’ll worry. That said, staying ahead of them technologically is very definitely a plus and I am sure Snowden was not helpful but like any new computer you buy, technology is almost immediately obsolete.

If Snowden was smart, he would stay in Russia. Great people, and if it wasn’t for Clinton brutalizing the Serbian population, and Obama acting like a total amateur, we would have much better relations. Hopefully we get a Tea Party President and they will respect us again (attn liberals, like is nice, but respect is a must).

Meanwhile, everyone knew the NSA was monitoring “others”, the only real secret is that the US government has been monitoring us and ignoring the others.

As some of you who know me I am huge conservative but also very patriotic when it comes to our rights as citizens. If you think about what Snowden has done, what has he actually released that almost all Americans already suspected was going on. All Snowden has done is just confirm those beliefs as well several other former workers.

I cannot go into more details but as long as Snowden handles this the “right way” I would lean his direction in doing what he is exposing.

Our Founding Fathers always questioned COMLETE government control and Madison an Jefferson were always fearful that the country would give up their liberty for security as well as the famous quote by Ben Franklin.

Americans are now also ‘along for the ride’ on this trip in an attempt to follow Edward Snowden, the White House & media attempting to paint him as one of the worst criminals in U.S. history for exposing the massive violations of the Constitution & the Rights of American citizens being perpetrated by our government.

Snowden is not the only thing missing from this ‘trip’. Also missing from this highly publicized ‘trip’ are the Fast & Furious, Benghazi, IRS, & SPY-Gate Revelation Scandals!

o Missing this morning is any further attention being given to an administration that armed Mexican Drug cartels – racking up 300+ dead bodies, to include a US Border Patrol Agent – while simultaneously attempting to strip law-abiding citizens of their right to bear arms.

o Missing today is any further attention to the fact that this administration refused to provide additional securty to Ambassador Stevens – after entrusting his safety to al Qaeda-backed terrorists, after 2 previous terrorist attacks, & a warning from Stevens that he would die if there was a 3rd attack & he was denied again the requested additional security – the 2 orders to response teams to Stand down, abandoning Americans under fire for 7 hours, & after lying & covering it up, spreading the ‘video’ lie as late as a month after they knew the truth.

o Missing today was any further attention to the fact that this President abused the power of the Federal Govt by unofficially directing the use of the IRS, ATF, FBI, EPA, & even Homeland Security to target his ‘enemies’ – Conservatives, the EPA, ATF, & Homeland Security – to target, intimidate, silence, & even destroy them…a massive un-precedented act of TYRANNY.

o Missing this morning is the fact that the United States government has abused the Patriot Act, deviating from the very intent of its original authors – to listen in on FOREIGN calls soming into the U.S. of calls from within the U.S. to FOREIGNers; the fact that the NSA ADMITTED to violating the law by declaring they have wire tapped American citizens’ phones & collected their info without legally acquring subpoenas or other required authorizations; that the Federal Govt is finishing up building a data-mining stroage facility 5 times larger than the US Capitol in which they are storing the DAILY collected phone calls, text messages, e-mails, blog posts, pictures, videos, etc of EVERY American citizen!

Instead, we are being held captive & forced to watch the Federal Govt / this administration, that has perpetrated all of these crims, vilations of the Constitution, & Acts of WAR against the citizens of the United States demonize & seek to apprehend the whistle blower, Snowden! (Again, while running from office Obama praised Whistle Blowers, proclaimed we need more in the US, & said they need to be protected….unless they expose HIM for crimes, Constitutional Violations, & attacks on Americans’ rights!)

Our only alternative is to watch the political theater & self/party benefitting efforts of rubio, the Gang of 8, & Liberals who believe passing legislation that benefits millions of Illegals/criminals within the US – and millions more to follow – is a much more important issue than reigning in the Tyrannical acts of a government completely out of control!

Washington has gone mad, driven over the edge by power-hungry, self & party-serving politicians & Socialist Leader wanna-bes who have already elevated themselves far above the laws they pass, the Constitutionthey were entrusted with, & any accountability to the people they are now waging this war against!

The inability to get any cooperation whatsoever, from anyone, is an expected slap in the face of the incompetent boob in the WH and his incompetent cabinet. The world laughs at the USA these days and this is incontrovertible proof. We can thank all the low-information voters for this state of affairs and the decline of our Republic. Stupid basta*ds all…………… who still think they are going to get free obamacare…………

Forget for a second that our politicians sold our nation to the chinese yers ago, that we are not much more than endentured srvants & slaves to the products we are all ‘addicted’ to…forget for a second about how THAT isn’t enough but how the Chinese have been ripping off product ideas – sturying our products & duplicating them for years…the Chinese have been HACKING the cr@p out of us for years, stealing eveerything from DVD plans to classified Militarty files & WE STILL HAVE DONE NOTHING TO THEM OVER IT. We haven’t evcen made any SERIOUS threats of accountability over any of it yet….but now Carney is threatening them with SERIOUS ramifications for not handing over Snowden? Hmmm…

As for the Russians….Once Obama began talking about how Assad FINALLY crossed the Chem Weapon ‘Red Line’ & how the US must get involved to help the Jihadists & Al Qaeda who have flocked to join the rebels overthrow Assad, THEN Putin stepped in to say he still backs Assad. I agree with Putin on 1 thing – we don’t need to help terrorists overthrow another government & take over another country, a la Libya & Egypt! I agree with Texas Politician Cruz that we should locate & destroy WMD there & get out ASAP!

Another reason Putin / Russia is giving Obama the proverbial middle finger over snowden is because of the Boston Bombing. Russia put out the word that they had given the US a lot of information about the brothers before the bombing. they exposed the inept ability & poor handling of our govt agencies leading to the failure to prevent the attack. The Obama administration, not wanting to be embarrassed, then reported that RUSSIA, not the US dropped the ball & should have done more. THAT ticked Putin off, & now he wants to embarrass Obama!

(Flashback – after the Benghazi attack the Libyan President reported that there was early warning this attack was coming & how the Obama administration failed to prevent it. The Obama administration then – again as not to be embarrassed – reported the President didn’t know what he was talking about. This POed the Libyan President, & in turn he would not let the FBI into Benghazi for quite a while as ‘payback’. This pattern of firing back at others for exposing HIS failures is chronicled, as is how it always causes problems for the US. Obama is UNABLE to admit mistakes or take criticism, which is much deserved!)

Hey, Cindy, read that article I posted earlier and you’ll see why Snowden did what he s doing this way. A former NSA employee decided to go the whistleblower way and was reamed and basically called a liar. It was not until Snowden showed what was going on that proved that our govt has gone from tracking calls/emails from foreigners to now doing a massive sweep of ALL traffic.

Not only is our government violating our constitutional rights, Snowden, who all the elite Obama supporting media keeps telling us is stupid, keeps making them all look like fools. Enjoy your trip to Cuba! Too bad it was not North Korea…

Even if you think Snowden is the bad guy, I don’t at this point, you have to admit he has proven how inept our government and media are.

obama does more to resurrect Nixon, Carter, GWB, the TEA party and Aeroflot than they possibly could.

Schadenfreude on June 24, 2013 at 2:16 PM

Other than folks like Charlie Manson, he’s probably the only man to ever be unfavorably compared to both Nixon and Carter. Anybody that makes Nixon and Carter both look good by comparison is pretty awful.

One person whose privacy was not invaded by U.S. intelligence was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as he repeatedly visited the al-Qaida online magazine Inspire for its recipe “Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”

The NSA’s blanket surveillance did not detect Tsarnaev’s interest in building the pressure cooker bombs he would use to devastating effect at the Boston Marathon. The massive databases that we are building a massive facility in Utah to store also failed to uncover the online communications that Tsarnaev had with a known Muslim extremist in Dagestan.

So the Russians warned us about Tsarnaev and no electronic search was conducted. Tsarnaev used online al-Qaida resources to research the bomb he detonated as well as contacts with known extremists…and they detected NOTHING?

Okay, I’ll go back and read it. Thanks. I’m still not ready to make him a hero.

Cindy Munford on June 24, 2013 at 1:16 PM

I think a lot of people are too quick to crown him a hero because he plays into their prejudices. He seems way too cozy with Russia and China. We have a lot of highly classified information that needs to be protected from foreign powers. If he’s giving that information to them, then he’s a traitor, whether or not he’s legally liable under the Constitution’s deliberately narrow definition of treason.

Something to bear in mind: we were not at war with Russia when Aldrich Ames was spying for them. It is not a morally neutral action to share classified information with foreign powers.

That’s true, apparently Russia tried to warn us about the Boston Bombers. Our guys seem to be a little bit to convinced of their own invincibility. Shouldn’t we be questioning how something like Snowden happens in the first place?

I’m merely pointing out the reasons why someone might be concerned about their metadata being harvested.

unclesmrgol on June 24, 2013 at 11:29 AM
Oh please. Stop with the strawman. Many law abiding people value their rights and exercise them all every day.

You shouldn’t be inviting a police state simply because you currently trust the state. The pre-power state might not be the same as the post-power state.

blink on June 24, 2013 at 11:43 AM

By itself, the “State” cannot act. Period!

It, by necessity, must rely on individuals to act for it.

Therefore, the “State” should only be trusted to the extent the actions and motives of its individual actors can be examined for proper intent and action.

If such an examination does not take place, then you are trusting that each state-sponsored-actor has the same interpretation of policy, powers and limitations that every other state-sponsored-actor does.

And that, my friend, is a position that not even “the State” will take.